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ABRAHAM LINXOLN 

Painted from life, 1864-65, by Mr. G. W. F. 'I'ravers. 

Owned by Mr. George Prince. 



Abraham Linco/n Today 
A War-Time Tribute 



Abraham Lincoln Today 

A War-Time Tribute 

!EING the LINCOLN DAY CONVOCATION of the 

UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS 

I Q I 8 



h 
WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANGDON 

luilh the Addresses by 

PRESIDENT EDMUND J.JAMES 

of the Unit'ersity of Illinois 

and 

CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER 

of the French Army 



Pnblished by tbe 

UNIVERSITY OV ILLINOIS 

Urbaaa, 1918 



Copyright, 1Q18 

By WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANG DON 

and the 

UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS 

All Rights Rfser-ved 



Conivcation Edition, - - February, IQ18 

Uni'versity Edition, - - -^ May, IQ18 



l^mtagrapf) Iprintins & ^^tationerp Co. 



vlUl 13 HIB 



©CU 4 998. SI 



^ 



Table of Cofitents 



Page 

The Persons of the Convocation . . 9 

The Lincoln Day Convocation . . 11 

The Lincoln Day Address 

by President Edmund J. James 24 

Lincoln as Regarded by the People of 
France, Address by Captain Fer- 
nand Baldensperger .... 36 



Appendix: 

On Forever, Illinois! 

The Program ot the Convocation 
5 



List of Illustrations 



Page 

Abraham Lincoln . Frontispiece 

The Portrait Painted by G. W. F. Travers in 1864 

The Convocation . . .9 

America and Illinois . . 14 

Abraham Lincoln . . .19 

The Lambert Ambrotype, 1860 

The Central Group . . 22 

President Edmund Janes James 24 

Captain Fernand Baldensperger 35 

Sons of France and Illinois . 40 



The Persons of the Convocation 



THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
ILLINOIS 

THE GUEST OF HONOR 

CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER 

OF THE FRENCH ARMY 

THE DEANS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE 

THE UNIVERSITY COMMANDANT 

THE COMMANDANT OF THE UNITED STATES 
SCHOOL OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS 

AMERICA 

ILLINOIS 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

FRANCE 

THE FACULTIES AND STUDENTS OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



Abraham Lincoln Today 

A War-Time Tribute 



On the platform of the Auditorium of 
the University of Illinois is raised a dais, 
on which are three seats. In front at 
either side are groups of seats. 

The organ plays the Lincoln Music, 
composed by John Lawrence Erb. From 
one side there enter the President of the 
University of Illinois, the Guest of Honor, 
and the Deans of the University of Illinois. 
From the other side there enter the War 
Committee of the University, the University 
Commandant, the Commandant of the 
United States School of Military Aero- 
nautics, and the Lincoln Day Committee. 
They take seats at the front. The Faculties 
and the Students of the University are 
seated in the Auditorium. When the music 
comes to an end, the President of the Uni- 
versity rises. 

11 



PRESIDENT: 

Men, Women of the University, 
My fellow-members of the Faculty, 
And Students in these various Colleges: 
This is the day whereon the greatest son 
Of Illinois was born, — that kindly man 
Who in his single-hearted self summed up 
The best of all that — North, and South, 

and East, 
And West — we strive to be; and there- 
fore who 
Has well been called "The First Ameri- 
can." 
On February twelfth, in eighteen nine, 
Near Hodgensville, Kentucky, on a farm, 
Was Abraham Lincoln born. 

Wherefore this day 
In all the States by law is duly held 
In honor and in grateful memory, 
And I today as President have called 
The University of Illinois 
In worthy Convocation, fittingly 
To recognize this anniversary. 

12 



As the President returns to his seat, 
all the people join in singing /our stanzas 
of the State Song, 

ILLINOIS 

By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois, 
O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois 

Comes an echo on the breeze. 

Rustling through the leafy trees. 
And its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois! 

Thou didst hear thy country calling, Illinois, 
Illinois, 

Mid the din of war appalling, Illinois, Illinois, 
Then thy courage and thy will 
Rose each heart to fire and thrill; 

Brave and loyal thou are still, Illinois, Illinois! 

Not without thy wondrous story, Illinois, Illinois! 
Can be writ the nation's glory, Illinois, Illinois, 

On the record of thy years 

Abram Lincoln's name appears, 
Grant and Logan and our tears, Illinois, Illinois! 

While thy glory we are singing, Illinois, Illinois, 
Loyal homage to thee bringing, Illinois, Illinois, 
Let us praise His Holy name 
Through Whose might all good we claim. 
Who has wrought thy wondrous fame, Illinois 
Illinois! 

During the first stanza the State of 
Illinois comes in attended by a military 
escort. She is robed in a gown of gold, 
with overvesture and cloak of Statehood blue, 
and carries the State Flag of Illinois. She 
13 



goes up and stands before the right hand of 
the two lower seats on the dais. At the 
conclusion of the State Song she reaches 
forth her hand with devoted pride. 

ILLINOIS: 

Ever at sound of his majestic name 
Swiftly I come across the prairies, far 
Golden with corn, or blizzard-swept and 

white 
With winter snow. So now my soul is 

here 
With you who gratefully remember him, 
My greatest son. Observant, kindly, firm, 
Forgetful of himself and private ends. 
Most jocular when most heart-sunk in 

sadness, 
Strong he lifted up the grievous weight. 
The fiery burden of distracted times. 
And on his high, broad shoulders bore it. 

What woman does not watch with loving 
pride 

The stalwart son of her young mother- 
hood! 

With fearful ecstacy she sees him grow, 

Outstrip her fondest hopes, her best laid 
plans, 

And stride along, a giant among his 
fellows. 

So I. 

From out the shelter of my care he went, 

14 




AMLKICA AND ILLlNuIb 



Beyond the waving limits of the corn. 
He heard his Country's call; he went; he 

served; 
He wrought for her victoriously: and 

died. 

America! Thou Spirit Glorious! 
Mother of all the States! Transcendent 

Soul, 
Who everywhere art present, urging us 
To ever nobler heights of sacrifice 
And service, and most present only there 
Where thine ideals most are realized, 
My son was dear to you! At thought of 

him 
Thy face, like mine^ gleams forth its lov- 
ing pride: 
For truly was he thy son, as well as mine! 
Reveal thyself among us, tokening 
Thy love for him whose day we recognize! 

As Illinois stretches forth her hand in 
appeal, the Music plays The Star- 
Spangled Banner. Down the central 
aisle comes the figure of America, at- 
tended by a military escort. She is robed 
in white, with a golden girdle and a golden 
Liberty cap. She carries the American 
Flag in her right hand and wears the Shield 
of the United States on her left shoulder. 
She goes up the steps onto the platfortn and 
on up the steps of the dais, taking her place 
IS 



in front of the center seat. All the people 
of the Convocation join in singing two 
stanzas of 

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 

Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early Hght, 
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last 

gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the 

perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly 

streaming. 
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting 

in air. 
Gave proof through the night that our flag was 

still there. 
Oh! say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the 

brave? 

Oh! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand 
Between their loved homes and wild war's deso- 
lation; 
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven 

rescued land 
Praise the power that hath made and preserved 

us a nation. 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. 
And this be our motto, — "In God is our trust!" 
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall 

wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the 
brave! 

America staiids in front of her seat, 
and Illinois remains at the foot of the dais. 

16 



AMERICA: 

I come. 

For highly do I honor Lincoln's name: 

Through all the States that gather neath 

the Flag, 
Confederate South as well as Federal 

North, 
His name is held in deepest reverence. 

But not in mere commemoration now 
I come. The Flag is called across the seas, 
To lead its hosts to fight for Liberty: 
In peril is the Freedom of the World. 
Arise! I call, — America! The Flag 
Advances! See, it summons you to come! 
Yes, every man and woman, every child 
Is needed to redeem the stricken earth, 
Some fighting with our Allies there in 

France. 
Some working to support them here at 

home. 

You honor Lincoln. Will you follow him? 
What would his answer be? The world 

cannot 
Endure half slave, half free. Still do his 

words 
Set fire to the deeds of Illinois? 
Still does his spirit lead you all, as then? 
Or does there lurk in Illinois a soul. 
Although but one, that has not caught 

the fire 



Of his imperial soul, — one poor, mean soul 
That would not claim a share in sacrifice, 
But fatten safely here in greedy debt 
For life and all he has to British blood, 
To Belgian courage, to Canadian daring 
And the sacrifices France has made? 
Fate had its ruthless way, and Lincoln 

died; 
But does his mighty spirit live here still 
Among the sons and daughters of his 

State? 

ILLINOIS: 

His spirit lives here still! 
AMERICA: 

Choose well your words! 
The accolade of sacrifice straight falls 
On all who claim them heirs of Lincoln's 
name. 

ILLINOIS: 

We call upon him now to witness that 

We consecrate ourselves, beneath the 

Flag, 
To Liberty and to its rescue! — 
Oh Lincoln, spirit freed from earth's 

strict bonds. 
Speak once again thy words of fire, for us, 
And once again the State of Illinois 
Lead with her Sister States to stake their 

all 
For Freedom and the Rights of all Man- 
kind! 

18 




ABKAUAiM LINCOLN 
The Lambekt Ambkotype, ISOO 
the Photograph in the Home of Lincoln, in Springfield, 
by courtesy of Mrs. Albert S. Edwards. 



Again the Organ plays the Lincoln 
Music. From one side Lincoln enters. 
Illinois, the first to see him, raises her flag. 
Lincoln removing his high stove-pipe hat, 
bows. The people on the platform rise. 
Lincoln advances a few steps, then turns 
and bows, paying his tribute to America. 
He then stands motionless, his hat in his 
hand, until the music is finished. Then 
he raises his hand and speaks. Illinois 
remains standing at the foot of the dais. 

LINCOLN: 

I cannot fly from my thoughts; my 
solicitude for this great country follows 
me wherever I go. 

Our popular government has often 
been called an experiment. Two points 
in it our people have already settled — the 
successful establishing and the successful 
ad?ninistering of it. One still remains — • 
its successful maintenance against a for- 
midable attempt to overthrow it. Such 
will be a great lesson of peace, teaching 
all the folly of being the beginners of a 
war. 

This is essentially a people's contest, 
and this issue embraces more than the 
fate of these United States. It presents 
to the whole family of man the question 
whether a constitutional republic, or a 
democracy — a government of the people 
19 



by the same people — can or can not 
maintain its territorial integrity against 
its foes. It forces us to ask, Is there in 
all republics this inherent and fatal weak- 
ness? Must a government of necessity 
be too strong for the liberties of its own 
people, or too weak to maintain its own 
existence? 

Fellow-citizens, we can not escape 
history. We will be remembered in spite 
of ourselves. No personal significance or 
insignificance can spare one or another 
of us. The fiery trial through which we 
pass will light us down in honor or dis- 
honor to the latest generation. We, even 
we here, hold the power and bear the 
responsibility. We shall nobly save or 
meanly lose the last best hope of earth. 

We have been the recipients of the 
choicest bounties of Heaven; we have 
been preserved these many years in peace 
and prosperity; we have grown in num- 
bers, wealth, and power as no other 
nation has ever grown. But we have 
forgotten God. We have forgotten the 
gracious hand which preserved us in 
peace and multiplied and enriched and 
strengthened us, and we have vainly 
imagined, in the deceitfulness of our 
hearts, that all these blessings were pro- 
duced by some superior wisdom and vir- 
tue of our own. Intoxicated with un- 

20 



broken success, we have become too self- 
sufficient to feel the necessity of redeem- 
ing and preserving grace, too proud to 
pray to the God that made us. 

It behooves us then to humble our- 
selves before the offended Power, to con- 
fess our national sins, and to pray for 
clemency and forgiveness. It is for us 
here to be dedicated to the great task 
remaining before us; that we here highly 
resolve that this nation shall have a new 
birth of freedom; and that government 
of the people, by the people, and for the 
people, shall not perish from the earth. 
And having thus chosen our course, with- 
out guile and with pure purpose, let us 
renew our trust in God and go forward 
without fear and with manly hearts. Let 
us have faith that right makes might, 
and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare 
to do our duty as we understand it. 

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we 
pray, that this mighty stourge of war 
may speedily pass away. Yet, if God 
wills that it continue, as was said three 
thousand years ago, so still it must be 
said, "The judgments of the Lord are 
true and righteous altogether." 

With malice toward none, with 
charity toward all, with firmness in the 
right as God gives us to see the right, let 
us strive on to finish the work we are in, 

21 



to bind up the nation's wounds, to care 
for him who shall have borne the battle 
and for his widow and his orphan, to do 
all which may achieve and cherish a just 
and lasting peace among ourselves and 
with all nations. 

I now leave, not knowing when, or 
whether ever I may return, with a task 
before me greater than that which rested 
upon Washington. Without the aid of 
that Divine Being who ever attended 
him, we cannot succeed. With that as- 
sistance we cannot tail. Trusting in Him 
who can go with me and remain with you, 
and be everywhere for good, let us con- 
fidently hope that all will yet be well. To 
His care commending you, as I hope in 
your prayers you will commend me, I 
bid you, friends and neighbors, an affec- 
tionate farewell. 

Liyicoln bows in tribute to America 
and departs. The Organ at once plays and 
all the people rise and sing 

THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of 

the Lord; 
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes 

of wrath are stored! 
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible 
swift sword: 
His truth is marching on! 
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is 
marching on! 
22 



I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred 

circling camps; 
They have builded Him an altar in the evening 

dews and damps; 
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and 
flaring lamps; 
His day is marching on! 
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! 
His day is marching on! 



He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never 

call retreat; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His 

judgment seat; 
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, 
my feet! 
Our God is marching on! 
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! 
Our God is marching on! 



In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across 

the sea. 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you 

and me; 

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make 

men free, 

While God is marching on! 

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! 

While God is marching on! 



President Edmund Janes James of 
the University of Illinois then rises and 
delivers 

23 



THE LINCOLN DAY ADDRESS 

Men and Women of Illinois : 

We are gathered here today to do 
honor to the memory of Abraham Lin- 
coln. Some one has said that you may 
judge a nation well by its heroes — the 
men in whom it sees incarnated its ideas 
and its ideals. 

If this be true, and who will not 
agree that it contains much truth, we 
Americans are peculiarly fortunate. 
George Washington and Abraham Lin- 
coln are by common consent enrolled not 
only among the greatest Americans but 
among the greatest men of all time and 
all nations — and we selected them for the 
greatest honor and the highest office 
within our gift to confer. 

It has been said that in the wide 
domain of European civilization the 
birthday of no other man than George 
Washington has been so long celebrated 
or by more people. This is a significant 
fact and one of which we Americans may 
well be proud. 

It is also certain that no name is 
more widely known or more deeply re- 
vered among all lovers of liberty on the 
the face of the earth than that of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Surely this may fill our 
24 




PRESIDENT EDMUND JANES JAMES 



hearts with pride and joy, for he was of 
our very household. He rode the circuit 
of which Urbana was a part. He prac- 
ticed law in this city. He got his 
growth, physical, intellectual and moral 
here in this cornbelt. His career shows 
how unimportant to the really great man 
the training of the schools is. He passed 
much of his youth and early manhood in 
the smallest and meanest of frontier 
towns surrounded by the most sordid 
conditions of life, hardly able to earn, I 
will not say a decent living, but even 
enough to keep soul and body together. 
And yet when he came to stand, I will 
not say before Kings, but among Kings, 
he towered in moral majesty head and 
shoulders above them all. 

We have a special love for him here 
in this institution. As President of the 
United States he signed the bill out of 
which this institution grew and his 
memory will abide with us. The beau- 
tiful structure across the way is named 
in his honor and ranks among the im- 
portant monuments of this country to 
his memory. 

As a member of the Illinois Legis- 
lature he stood for education and the up- 
building of educational institutions. 

But after all his real longing was to 
aid in the spread of freedom and liberty. 
25 



One of his earliest resolutions and vows, 
made to himself it is true but none the 
less sacred for that, was that if the 
chance ever came he would deal the in- 
stitution of African Slavery in the coun- 
try a death blow. Before he died he did 
this and in doing so gave a new meaning 
among us to the divine doctrine of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

He is ours in a special sense for what 
he did for this and similar institutions; 
for what he did for this commonwealth; 
for what he did for this nation; for what 
he did for humanity; and we should be 
lifted into new and higher regions of self- 
sacrifice and devoted to interests of 
humanity by the contemplation of his 
character. 

We are fortunate today to have with 
us as a guest from one of the allied coun- 
tries a distinguished scholar who is going 
to tell us how this man, Abraham Lin- 
coln, this rail-splitter, this country law- 
yer, this member of the lower house of 
the Illinois Legislature, this son of the 
cornbelt without the benefit of the 
schools or colleges or universities, with no 
social influence, with little social grace — ■ 
seems to the highly cultivated society of 
the most highly cultivated of modern 
nations. 

But I can not let this opportunity 

26 



pass without expressing our warm feelings 
of consideration for the country he repre- 
sents. Such an occasion, Sir, brings with 
peculiar vividness to the mind of every 
student of human history the pre-eminent 
services of the French nation to that 
common civilization, which is the most 
precious heritage of us all. For five 
hundred years France has been the center 
of Europe in a sense which can be asserted 
of no other country. She has been the 
schoolmaster of the world in all that 
makes for culture and refinement. The 
debt of the modern world to France is 
reflected in every aspect of modern life, 
thought, taste and action. 

Every department of human achieve- 
ment has fallen in turn under her domi- 
nation, and at times all of them together. 
No other nation has led on so many dif- 
ferent ways. She has entered every road 
leading to the heights of human effort, 
and has entered only to lead. Arms, 
politics, art, literature, science, industry 
— in all she has been equally pre-eminent 
— in all she has laid humanity under 
lasting obligations. We deem it, Sir, a 
great pleasure to acknowledge thus our 
debt to this wonderful people and to con- 
gratulate you. Sir, as the representative 
of this nation, upon the long line of gen- 
erals, statesmen, thinkers, artists, litter- 
27 



ateurs, who have worked out these great 
results. They belong, not merely to 
France, or to Europe, but to the whole 
world, and their deeds are a common 
heritage of which we are all proud, and 
to which we are all heirs and joint-heirs 
with you. 

But it is not merely as citizens of 
the world, as joint-heirs in this common 
heritage to which your people have con- 
tributed so much that we gladly welcome 
you here today. As men, as citizens of 
sister republics, devoted to the same high 
ideal of human welfare, we welcome you 
as the representative of workers and co- 
workers in a common cause — the cause 
of ever-advancing, ever-spreading de- 
mocracy — adherents and devotees of the 
same principle of human freedom and 
equality — a principle which, under God, 
is destined to turn and overturn until 
humanity is redeemed. 

If it was our high privilege to be the 
first to announce in the immortal Declara- 
tion of Independence the principle that 
all men are born equal, that they are 
endowed by their Creator with certain 
inalienable rights, among which are life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it 
was yours to accept, for the first time in 
all human history, as a rule of political 

28 



action, the doctrine of Liberty, Equality, 
and Fraternity for all men. 

By the acceptance of this doctrine 
at the outbreak of your revolution you 
converted what might have been a mere 
incident in internal French politics into 
an epoch-making event in world devel- 
opment. You made it a turning point 
in human history — a passageway from 
darkness into light, toward which all past 
development seemed to have been con- 
verging, and out of which all further 
advance seems to have issued. On that 
celebrated August night you made an 
irreparable breach in the walls of privi- 
lege and caste and opened the way for the 
floodtide of modern liberty and progress. 
And from that time to this. Sir, amidst 
storm and stress, in apathy and indif- 
ference, against selfishness and reaction, 
through bitter conflict and weary waiting, 
decade by decade, with never wearying 
persistence, our two nations have ad- 
vanced this solemn and holy standard, 
calling all men to flock to its banner, to 
array themselves on our side in this great 
struggle for equality of opportunity for 
all human kind. 

But, this is not merely an occasion 
for congratulation on victory thus far 
achieved, but an opportunity to pledge 
ourselves anew for the coming conflicts. 

29 



We have been up to the time of the Great 
War in the midst of a certain worldwide 
reaction. We heard doubts expressed of 
the feasibility and durability of democ- 
racy. Royalty seemed to have taken a 
new lease of lite; privilege and caste 
were again rearing their hydra-headed 
forms in even the freest countries. To 
us, Sir, in a peculiar way to France and 
America, is committed the ark of the 
covenant. Ours should be the task to 
safeguard it and carry it forward to its 
final resting place in the holy of holies — 
the everlasting, all-embracing temple of 
human freedom. 

Americans and Frenchmen, wherever 
they meet, under whatever skies, on 
whatever occasions, should dedicate them- 
selves anew to the cause for which their 
fathers and brothers died decades ago and 
are dying today. We should take up with 
ever fresh energy the contest for the 
realization of that government for the 
people, of the people and by the people 
— which is the only sure pledge of the 
reign of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity 
— the reign of equal opportunity, of 
peace, and of love. 

But, Sir, no American could greet a 
representative of the French people with- 
out again uttering that which perhaps, 
after all, needs no utterance, because it 

30 



is ever in his heart and ever on his tongue 
when the name of France is mentioned. 
No American can ever forget that it was 
France which assured the early and suc- 
cessful outcome of that opening struggle 
in the long drama of human freedom, 
which began on the heights of Bunker 
Hill and ended on the plains of York- 
town. We can never forget that noble 
band of generous Frenchmen who laid 
down their swords, their services and 
some ot them, alas! their lives, upon the 
altar of our country, achieving liberty, 
guaranteeing our independence. How 
deep, Sir, this sense of obligation has sunk 
into the national heart, how it has fired 
our imagination and kindled our grati- 
tude, is best shown by the veneration in 
which he is held who to us incorporated 
in his own person the services of his 
country — the immortal LaFayette! If 
an American utters the name of Wash- 
ington in admiration and love — lo, the 
name of LaFayette trembles on his lips! 
These two names — one and indivisible — 
never to be uttered or thought of apart 
— symbolize in their union the deep-felt 
love and sympathy of this people for 
yours, and will carry down to nations yet 
unborn the high and holy tradition of the 
time when, hand in hand, we began that 
struggle for human freedom which may 
then, God willing, be complete. 

31 



In closing, Sir, I may be permitted 
to voice again a sentiment which has 
often been expressed here before — viz., 
that the universities of France and the 
United States may co-operate in ever- 
increasing measure to promote that 
better mutual understanding which is at 
once the basis and one of the surest 
guaranties of international sympathy and 
peace. They would seem to be pecu- 
liarly called to this office by their essential 
function. The higher educational in- 
stitutions of a counrty bring together the 
youth at the time of most generous 
emotion, when the youth are most capa- 
ble of understanding and appreciating 
the character and services of other coun- 
tries and other races. France has been 
in a peculiar sense the schoolmaster of 
this country in all that pertains to art and 
beauty. It was that we needed most, 
and that which France gave most un- 
grudgingly. The treasures of countless 
generations of toil and effort were ours 
without money and without price— your 
only reward being the heartfelt thanks of 
thousands of grateful students. Of late, 
again, the universities have opened still 
wider their doors, have made it still easier 
for us to enter in and reap where we have 
not sown, to gather where we have not 
scattered. Is it too much to hope. Sir, 
that this new generosity may in its turn 

32 



beget a new gratitude which will do its 
further part in removing misunder- 
standing and begetting mutual con- 
fidence? 

But the university in its other great 
function of advancing human science is 
especially called to this high office of 
promoting international peace and unity. 
We are standing face to face with the 
greatest problems that have ever con- 
fronted the race. With the new century 
has begun, in a truer sense than ever 
before, the history of the world as dis- 
tinct from the history of a country, or a 
continent, or a civilization. Whether 
after the winning of this war in the new 
era which will open before us the advance 
is to be steady, peaceful and uninter- 
rupted, or whether amidst the fierce 
conrtict of struggling armies the race is 
again to begin the weary task of Sisyphus, 
rolling up the ball of civilization only to 
see it slip back again through the ranks 
of warring and angry men, who united 
might have landed it on high, far above 
the reach of danger; whether, in a word, 
peace and good-will to men can be made 
the practical motto of the race is yet to 
be determined. In this work the uni- 
versities should have a great part. The 
university is devoted to science, and 
science is universal and benefits all men 

33 



alike. It is devoted to philosophy and 
philosophy is universal and draws all men 
together. In the atmosphere of these 
institutions, in this great republic of 
letters and science, stretching through all 
countries and all climes, international 
jealousies, and suspicions, and rivalries, 
and heart-burnings should die away. Our 
only ambition should be to aid the race; 
our only rivalry that of generous service. 
Is it too much to hope that we may thus 
make a considerable contribution to the 
better mutual understanding and appre- 
ciation from which peace and good-will 
may flow? 

And finally, Sir, permit me to ex- 
press the gratification of this institution 
and of this community for one of the 
great compensations of this war. It has 
already led to a deeper and larger under- 
standing of France and the French people 
in this country. It has already spread 
abroad a larger knowledge of the French 
language, history, literature, institutions 
and character. We who love and admire 
French genius, we who believe in the 
mission of France to the modern world, 
are convinced that others will share our 
love and admiration when they share our 
knowledge. To know her is to admire 
and to love. We are happy to be the 
agents in this effort to extend and deepen 
34 



that knowledge which can only increase 
the hold France has exercised for genera- 
tions on every other race and country; 
because a knowledge which will increase 
our respect for all that is great and good 
in the French people — a knowledge which 
will make for peace and harmony, for 
liberty and freedom; because a knowledge 
which will sweep away misunderstandings 
and prejudice and lead to an ever-in- 
creasing appreciation and emphasis of 
the things which bind us together! 

Ladies and Gentlemen; permit me to 
introduce: 

CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER 

of the 
French Army, Professor in the Sorbonne. 

As the Guest of Honor rises to ac- 
knowledge the iritroduction of the President 
of the University, the Organ strikes up The 
Marseillaise. All the people of the Con- 
vocation rise to their feet in hojior of France 
and in respect for the representative of their 
Ally present. Down the center aisle comes 
the figure of France, dressed in blue and 
wearing the red Liberty Cap with the cock- 
ade and carrying the Tricolor of France. 
America and Illinois come down from the 
dais to meet her. As France comes up on 

35 



to the platform America embraces her and 
then invites her to a seat beside her on the 
dais. America, France and Illinois go up 
on to the dais and as The Marseillaise 
comes to an end take their seats. 

The Guest of Honor, Captain Fer- 
nand Baldensperger of the French Army, 
Professor in the Sorbonne, then dehveres 
his address. 

LINCOLN AS REGARDED BY THE 
PEOPLE OF FRANCE 
Fellow-citizens of Abraham Lincoln, 
American friends! 

My very first knowledge of Lincoln, 
if I remember well, was conveyed to me, 
when I was a boy of nine or ten, by a 
biography given as a prize-book for work 
at school. It was certainly the spirit of 
adventure in the history of your great 
man, the river and the prairie, rather than 
the democratic spirit which pervades it, 
that seemed attractive to a young French- 
man about the year 1880. And yet the 
mere fact that a primary school in a pro- 
vincial town of France should choose a 
biography of Abraham Lincoln as suit- 
able reading matter for a boy's summer 
holiday shows in its way the real im- 

36 




CAPTAIN" FF.RXANU BAI.DENSPERGER 



portance given to your great country- 
man by Republican France. 

The significance and, if I may say so, 
the legend of Lincoln have indeed been 
connected from the very beginning with 
the hopes and the outlooks of democracy 
in my country. When he died in 1865, 
the Second Empire in France was doomed, 
having still, however, an exterior appear- 
ance ot strength: and part of that 
strength was due to the fact that with the 
exception of Switzerland there was no 
republic in Europe, — as if Western de- 
mocracies after more or less enduring 
attempts had given up the ambition of 
political self-assertion. There was another 
republic over the sea: but your Federa- 
tion, to many observers, seemed to have 
become a mere conglomerate of provinces, 
ready for dissolution and led astray from 
the original destinies of the United States. 

It was owing to Abraham Lincoln 
that the belief, the faith in a lasting de- 
mocracy, — even in a democracy able to 
wage war without changing its char- 
acter, — was kept alive in the heart of 
Liberal France. And so it is not to be 
wondered at if, directly after your Presi- 
dent's shocking death, the praise of 
France reached its climax in the Liberal 
circles. Of course the government of 

37 



Napoleon the Third worded officially to 
Washington, on April 28, its offi- 
cial sympathy and grief; both Senate 
and Chamber of Representatives, through 
their presidents and by way of their 
orders of the day, expressed the same 
general feeling; Empress Eugenie, — at the 
present hour the only sovereign of those 
remote times who is still alive, — sent a 
message to Mrs. Lincoln. But such offi- 
cial declarations amount to nothing sub- 
stantial, if we tliink that at the same 
moment a close confident of the 
Napoleonic court, Merimee, wrote to a 
friend that all that "fuss," as he says, 
showed merely that the government was 
afraid of America. 

Entirely different, genuine and en- 
thusiastic and sincere, were the marks of 
admiration and sympathy given by the 
Liberal opposition. The silk weavers of 
Lyons, those sturdy and independent 
workmen, cooperated in waving a re- 
membrance flag in honor of the fallen 
President and sent it to the American 
Congress. I was specially thinking of 
that virile and poetic sign a few minutes 
ago, when I saw my flag, the French 
Tricolor, coming up this crowded hall 
and mingling its colors with the Stars 
and Stripes. A golden medal was cast 
on behalf of 40,000 small subscribers 

38 



from every corner of France, and sent 
in 1866 to Mrs. Lincoln. "If France," 
said the address joined to the gift, "had 
the freedom enjoyed by republican 
America, not thousands but millions 
among us would have been counted as 
admirers of Lincoln and believers in the 
opinions for which he devoted his life and 
which his death has consecrated." Victor 
Hugo, the grand exile, Edgar Quinet, 
Louis Blanc, Schoelcher, Flocon, — all of 
them proscribed for their political faith, — 
Michelet, Littre, expressed their high 
appreciation and eulogy, as they felt that 
their cause was in fact the cause of Lin- 
coln's America. The American Minister 
in Paris, Mr. Bigelow, transmitting to his 
government other testimonies of the same 
feeling, — the address of 2,000 students of 
the College de France, a note signed by 
the contributors of four Liberal papers, 
— mentioned frankly "how deep a hold 
Abraham Lincoln had taken upon the 
respect and affections of the French 
people." 

Lincoln, the man, the self-made man 
in the full sense of the word, with his 
honesty, his candor, his practical ideal- 
ism, the horrible fatality which made a 
child of the people meet the end com- 
monly reserved to tyrants, — these fea- 
tures of your President in life and death, 
39 



kept before the eyes of the French public, 
were eagerly accepted by our masses. 
Two of the first French biographers of 
Lincoln in fact had seen him personally. 
Jouault, who happened to be in Wash- 
ington on the 4th of March, 1865, when 
the President renewed after his reelection 
his pledge to the Constitution, described 
that "strange man," clumsy, meagre, 
careless in his appearance but with his 
magnificent black eyes, out of which 
streamed the love of humanity. Laugel 
had visited Lincoln in the White House 
and spent an evening with him in the 
presidential box in the same Ford Theatre 
which was to be the scene of his death; 
and he was specially struck by the kind 
voice and the everready sensitiveness 
contrasting in the great man with all the 
signs of a powerful and concentrated will. 

So you see that Lincoln's personality 
was not at all a mere phantom for France, 
when the French Academy in 1867 pro- 
posed as the subject of a prize poem The 
Death of Presidejit Lincoln. A young 
friend of Lamartine, Edouard Grenier, 
was the winner of the prize. And indeed 
we feel that Lamartine himself, our great 
practical idealist of 1848, the poet who 
then prevented our democratic Revolu- 
tion from splintering, would have been 
the best possible singer ot your great 
leader. 

40 




SONS OF FRANCE AND ILLINOIS 



Since the days when the pathos of a 
tragic death was added to the significance 
of Lincoln's personality, his memory in 
France has remained what the clearest 
minds of 1865 had foreseen, "the austere 
and sacred personification of a great 
epoch, the truest expression of democ- 
racy." In the words of Henri Martin, 
the historian, "Lincoln's ability to steer 
a great Republic through a crisis without 
reverting to laws of exception," showed 
forever the possibility of a really efficient, 
even a war-making democracy. And if 
France has been able, as you mentioned 
it so beautifully, to play her part in the 
great struggle for civilization, it is partly 
because her generous mind had been 
thrilled to new energies by a fate which 
had its cradle in the heart of your country. 

For the significance of Lincoln for 
France has not vanished in more recent 
days. We know the verses by which an 
American poet celebrated "his Captain." 
It was a French medallist, Roine, who 
made the Lincoln Centennial Medal. 
And Ambassador Jusserand, when he 
brought France's greeting to Springfield 
in 1909, gave a new testimony to the old 
feeling, when he showed that the belief 
in an unsplintered American Union had 
been a part of that democratic faith 
which, by and by, was bringing my 

41 



country so very close to yours that they 
are sure now to walk hand in hand to- 
wards their new destinies. 

At the conclusion of the Addresses, 
the people of the Convocation sing the Illi- 
nois song, 

ON FOREVER, ILLINOIS! 

Illinois! Above the prairie 

High thine eagle wings his flight, 
Watching, vigilant and wary. 

Over human toil and right! 
Eagle-pinioned, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 
Through the storm sweep on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 

Illinois! The times are calling 

Souls that fear no sacrifice! 
Men for Liberty are falling; 

Will your sons refuse the price? 
Scorning danger, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 
On through death! On, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 

Illinois! Thy meed of glory 

That all men, till years are dust, 
Shall thy sons, high famed in story, 

Silent, heaven-borne eagles trust! 
On through death! On, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 
Eagle-pinioned, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 

42 



The Benediction is then pronounced 
by the President of the University. 

PRESIDENT: 

Now may He who breathes the 
breath of life into all men breathe His 
Spirit into the State of Illinois, and into 
the United States of America, and into 
All the Peoples of the Earth, inspiring 
them to do His Holy Will under the per- 
fect Law of Liberty. Amen. 

All then join in singing two stanzas of 

AMERICA 

My Country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet Land of Liberty, 

Of thee I sing! 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the Pilgrims' pride. 
From every mountain side 

Let Freedom ring! 

Our fathers' God, to Thee, 
Author of Liberty, 

To Thee we sing: 
Long may our land be bright 
With Freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by Thy might. 

Great God, our King! 
43 



To the Lincoln Music, now played as 
a Recessional March, the President of the 
University, the Guest of Honor^ the Deans 
of the University, and the Committees de- 
scend from the platform i?i procession and 
go out by the center aisle, followed by 
America, Frayice, and Illinois, attended by 
the escort of University Cadets. 



Note — The Address of Abraham Lincoln herein 
presented is a compilation from Lincoln's writings. Noth- 
ing has been written in to adapt what he said to the present 
purpose. The only change is in the last paragraph, taken 
from the Springfield Farewell, in which the pronoun "I" 
has been changed to "we." The passages used are, in 
order, from 

Letter to J. T. Mills, 1864; 

Special Session Message to Congress, 1861; 

Second Annual Message to Congress, 1862; 

Proclamation for Day of Prayer, 1863; 

The Gettysburg Address, 1863; 

Special Session Message, 1861; 

Cooper Union Address, 1860; 

Second Inaugural Address, 1865; 

The Springfield Farewell, 1861. W. C. L. 

44 



Ill-1-nola! A-bove the pral-rle High thine es-glo xln^hla flight. 




(Copyright, 1918, by W. C. Langdon and J. L. Erb) 

Illinois! The times are calling 

Souls that fear no sacrifice! 
Men for Liberty are falling; 

Will your sons refuse the price? 
Scorning danger, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 
On through death! On, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 

Illinois! Thy meed of glory 

That all men, till years are dust. 
Shall thy sons, high famed in story. 

Silent, heaven-borne eagles, trust! 
On through death! On, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 
Eagle-pinioned, on with joy! 

On forever, Illinois! 

45 



THE LINCOLN DAY CONVOCATION 

FOR THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

was presented in the Auditorium, February 
12, 1918, by the Committee on Con- 
vocations and under the auspices 
of the University War 
Committee. 

THE PERSONS IN THE CONVOCATION 

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLI- 
NOIS 

THE GUEST OF HONOR, CAPTAIN FERNAND 
BALDENSPERGER OF THE FRENCH ARMY 

THE DEANS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE 

THE UNIVERSITY COMMANDANT 

THE COMMANDANT OF THE UNITED STATES 
SCHOOL OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS 

THE LINCOLN DAY COMMITTEE 

THE FACULTIES AND STUDENTS OF THE UNI. 
VERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

AMERICA Mildred V. Strong 

ILLINOIS Lucille Peirson 

46 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN . . . Kenneth McKenzie 

FRANCE Lois M. Scott 

THE MUSIC FOR THE CONVOCATION under the 
direction of J. Lawrence Erb, F.A.G.O. The Lincoln 
Music and the song, On Forever, Illinois! were com- 
posed by him. 

THE COSTUMES of America and Illinois were designed 
hy Mrs. William Chauncy Langdon. 

THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE: David Kin- 
ley, Chairman; Eugene Davenport, Stephen Alfred 
Forbes, Frederick Haynes Newell, Stuart Pratt 
Sherman, Charles Alton Ellis, Charles Manfred 
Thompson. 

THE COMMITTEE ON LINCOLN DAY CONVOCA- 
TION: Daniel Kilham Dodge, Chairman; Ernest 
Bernbaum, Harry Franklin Harrington, William 
Chauncy Langdon, Rex R. Thompson. 



